Delhi

All that Ghandi owned at the time of his death
Originally uploaded by susiebarber

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday, but it was a bit of a horrible day. It did start out on a good note though – when we were loading the car in Bikaner, I looked across the street and saw the sign at the entry to the velodrome. It read “Ganga Golden Jubilee Club”. Seriously. Gotta love that. Oh, and I've managed to catch up with the photo uploads.

Anyway, we hit the road to Delhi. We were cruising along pretty well across the desert when the road went to one lane. That’s OK – traffic was light, so we’d just have to share it with oncoming cars. After about 3 hours, we hit a giant snag. There was a major traffic jam. Nothing was moving and we were told by folks going the other way that it went on for about 4 km. What was causing the jam? A temple. There were about 400 buses of folks going to and leaving the temple. Buses were either breaking down or being parked on the only lane and no one could get around. It was so bad that police were called in from some place or other. Of course, they just stood around laughing while we all tried to sort it out. It was so hot that many people abandoned their cars and buses, which made things worse. And in the middle of the mess, our car’s engine fan died. Yup, we had to turn off the AC. And, since the car was sitting in the hot sun, we were in an oven. I tried to get out, since it was much cooler outside, but I got accosted by kids jumping all over me trying to steal things out of my pockets. In fact, Anand heard a father tell his son to say hello and then take my bag. How nice. Did I mention this was at a temple? It took 2 hours to go 4 km, but we eventually made it out.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, but hot since we had no AC. We did manage to keep the engine temperature down though and make it back to Delhi. When we got to Delhi, we came across a closed road, so Anand took a short cut. I said, “Oh look – it’s a mosque” and before Anand could respond, the car got attacked. There was a Muslim guy at Anand’s window pounding away, yelling, and pointing at me. On my side, there was a Muslim woman dressed head to toe in black screaming and pointing at me. She kept pointing to her shirt sleeve. I was wearing khaki pants and a short sleeved t-shirt and was about as covered as most Indian women, but apparently not enough for these people’s taste. And others joined them, lucky us. Finally, the vehicle in front of us moved and Anand got us out of there leaving those people in our wake.

Next we stopped to call Anand’s boss. Anand’s cell phone had died on the way to Jaisalmer, so we couldn’t call ahead. While Anand was making the call, some guy tried to open the car door and grab me. I got the door closed and locked pretty quickly and Anand ran out and scared them away. The boss said to take me Hotel Doda which was just a few blocks away. I was so not happy to be staying in this neighborhood and really didn’t want to be left there. But it was late and Anand had been looking forward to seeing his family after 10 days with me. I couldn’t make too much of a fuss. We said our goodbyes in the lobby – Anand would be taking the next few days off – and I almost cried. But I only had 3 nights left in India and then I’d be in peaceful Nepal.

It got worse. The room was a nightmare. It was OK, except for the fact that there was water damage on the ceiling outside the bathroom and down the wall. It not only hadn’t been repaired, but it had mold all over it. I’m highly allergic to mold. I went downstairs to ask for a different room, but no one really spoke English. I was so tired that I decided to take some benedryl and ride it out for one night. I went to my room, ordered food, and then it all started: many, many knocks on my door. The guys wouldn’t leave me alone. First there was someone who put new wet sheets on my bed. Then someone who brought the towel. Then 3 guys to bring me dinner (it was one plate and a bottle of water). Then someone else to bring other sheets (and put them on over the wet ones). He brought 4 friends to help. Then there were the 2 guys who came by to make sure that I didn’t need anything. Oh, and after I was asleep with the lights out, another guy to see if I needed anything. If I wasn’t so tired, I probably would have cried.

So this morning, I called the boss man (the man who signed me up on this hotel/driver combo pack). I said that I needed a different room and a driver. He came over to the hotel and asked me to come with him (and the hotel manager promised to move my things to a different room). Next thing you know, I’m at the house that he shares with his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. They fed me and talked with me at length. Then he walked me to meet my driver. I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Anand! But I felt bad, this was going to be his first day off in two weeks and he really was looking forward to spending time with his family.

Since it was Sunday, the camera stores and post office branches were closed. I’m saving all of that for tomorrow. So today, he took me to the Indira Ghandi museum (which is in the house where she lived and was assassinated). There’s also a bit dedicated to her son Rajiv Nehru who was killed by a bomb in ’92. Lots of photos, personal belongings, etc. The creepy thing was that the clothes she was wearing when she was shot and the clothes Rajiv was wearing when he was blown up are on display. But I’m really glad I went .

We moved on to the house where Mahatma Ghandi lived in during his final days and where he was shot. Again, lots of stuff to see and read. After, we went to Raj Ghat, the place where he was cremated. There’s a beautiful black marble slab and an eternal flame there. There’s only two words on it: “Oh God”, which is what he said when he was hit by the bullets.

On the way, though, we had to stop at the Lotus Temple, because the boss man was insistent. I saw the enormous line to get in, took a picture to keep Anand out of trouble, and got the hell out.

I have a new, freshly painted room. Much better and I’m going to the internet café around the corner to post this. Tomorrow I buy a camera for Africa, send some stuff I no longer need home (saris and Rajasthani dress, etc.) and repack and just rest. 48 hours from now, I should be at my hotel in Kathmandu and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it!